There were upsets galore during Sunday afternoon and eight-year-old Arktouros happened to be one of them. The Vijay Singh-trained ward who was accepted for the race after being nominated as a reserve, lifted the Major PK Mehra Memorial Super Mile Cup by a narrow margin from the course favourite Ranthambore. Alford has always maintained that Arktouros is his favourite horse (he rode his 1000th winner astride him) and never lets him down, and he proved it in no uncertain terms on the big stage.

As the gates opened, it was the Bangalore challenger Aristos who shot into the lead, but Christopher Alford ensured that his mount was ridden up front on this occasion and he quickly took up a position on the outside of the front-runner. The two fancied runners Ranthambore and Berlusconi were racing behind this pair – ready to pounce when they shot their bolt. While their expectations were fulfilled where Aristos was concerned, the game warrior Arktouros continued to gallop on in the straight.

Realising that the local challenger was threatening to pull away, jockey Jimmy Fortune immediately set AS Jodha’s Ranrhambore into top gear and joined the weathered warrior on his flank to wage a memorable battle all the way down the straight. Meanwhile Berlusconi found the pace too hot and retired from the fray after the bend.

As Fortune and Alford  went hell for leather, it looked anybody’s race, but at the wire it was the popular red-and-gold colours of Mr Deepak Khaitan which prevailed.  Immense was a good third, followed by Chase The Sun and Kohinoor Wish.

The chairman of RCTC and Turf Authorities of India, Mr Deepak Khaitan, said after the race that Arktouros has always remained his favourite horse.

“Arktouros is a game old warrior. On Saturday, I lost a great horse (Unleashed who was put down), and today my favourite runner has in a way provided some consolation for me,” said Mr Khaitan.

When Christopher Alford was asked if he thought he could pull it off during the neck-to-neck battle with Ranthambore, he replied: “ Once Arktouros gets his head in front at the distance post, he is a difficult horse to cross. He has never let me down and today was one more happy afternoon astride him. I knew I had to keep his head in front and never let go the advantage.”

Padmanabhan-traned Klipspringer who had run the Sprinters’ Cup a day earlier and finished nowhere, ran an absolute blinder in the hands of Martin Dwyer to get the better of Plenipotent in the seven-furlong race for the Suresh Mahindra Multi-Million Trophy. Mind you, had PS Chouhan had not taken the bend so wide on the Deshmukh-trained Plenipotent, the result could have been very well reversed.

Both River Star and Master Bullet were urged to take up the running early in the race and the duo seemed happy with their chores. It was only after the bend, that things started to hotten up. River Star was finding the pace too hot and started to drift out, making it difficult for Plenipotent and Chouhan decided on the safer course of action by taking his mount on the outside of the ‘drifter’.

Meanwhile, Klipspringer grabbed the space left by River Star and shot into the lead. Dwyer never let go the advantage after that on the property of the Poonawallas though the ominous pink colours from the famed Hyderabad stable of Deshmukh came at him like a bat out of hell.

Klipspringer stopped the clock at 1min 23.459 sec which was a new track record at this centre.

The disappointment in the race was the favourite Coccinella who was in the rear of the field for most part before making his run in the straight and finishing fifth along the rails.